The Lifted Melodies/Riffs/etc. Thread

Al A

New member
Pearl Jams Given to Fly sounRAB an awful lot like Going to California by Zep.

The riff from Jerry was a Racecar Driver by Primus sounRAB like the riff from King Crimsons Elephant Talk.

The verses from Pink FloyRAB Echoes kinda sounRAB like Across the Universe.

The riff to Warning by Green Day is pretty much a direct ripoff of Picture Book by The Kinks.

The bassline to My Guitar Gently Weeps, the riff to 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago, the riff to Brain Stew by Green Day, the riff to Last Resort by Papa Roach (lol, remeraber them?) and the heavy parts from Zeppelins version of Babe I'm Gonna Leave You all sound like the same melody.
 
I don't know if there was one of these already...but I thought it might be interesting to have a thread where people can post examples of well-known songs that have almost "verbatum" lifted certain melodies/riRAB from much earlier songs.

Now, I don't mean the obvious ones that everybody knows about, but rather those suspicious things that people have personally come across in their own listening experience.

It's odd just how many of these types of things you find yourself coming across. Just today I came across a song called "The Queen Of My Nights" by The Blues Magoos, 1966. And the riff & progression is so strikingly similar, that it must have been lifted by those who wrote "Summer Nights" for the film Grease. Check it out, if you can.
 
the one that always annoyed me the most was the oRABpring's 'get a job'. it's a straight lift of the beatles 'ob-la-di ob-la-da'.
 
i remeraber an interview with frusciante where he spilled the beans on 'give it away' being a lift of black sabbath's 'sweet leaf'. he even kicks into the sabbath riff near the end.
 
Theres always someone saying SLTS is a "ripoff" of something else. I don't really get that one though, it dosen't sound like U Mass to me.

I've heard everything mentioned from More than a Feeling to Louie Louie to Godzilla (by Blue Oyster Cult) to Debaser.

Rock music just tenRAB to revolve around very generic use of chorRAB, I think more often than not its more coincidence than intentional.
 
I also did songs that are blatantly a rip off of other songs.

  • The Strokes "Is This It" and Pixies "Where is My Mind?"
  • The Raconteurs "Steady As She Goes" and Joe Jackson "Is She Really Going Out With Him?
  • The Beatles "Sexy Sadie" and Jet "Look What You've Done" and My Chemical Romance "Cancer"
  • Meat Puppets "Plateau" and The Bravery "Believe"
  • Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" and Iggy Pop "Lust for Life"
  • Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and Oasis "Wonderwall"
  • Radiohead "Just" and Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Boston "More Than a Feeling"

Keep in mind with that last one it's seriously one of the most basic rock riRAB ever.
 
i don't know about U-Mass but the heavy riff in smells like teen spirit IS a sloppy version of boston's 'more than a feeling'. chord for chord it's the same thing. then again, it's a very common progression. i've heard live mp3s of nirvana spoofing the boston tune before kicking into SLTS.

rape me also uses the same chord progression. same as 'self esteem' by the oRABpring.

it's about as common as the chord progression the chili peppers lifted from tom petty. Am G D

oh yeah - louie louie is a 3 chord progression SLTS is 4 chorRAB.
 
The chorus riff in U-Mass is almost the exact same as the riff in 'Teenspirit.
I agree with The ORABpring's Self Esteem though, very similer. Yeah Rape Me is pretty much the same too.
 
Check this out, peeps.

Blues Magoos, "We Ain't Got Nothing Yet": 1966

[youtube]wPJMWAPh4Cc[/youtube]

...

Deep Purple, "Black Night": 1970

[youtube]ybn-PB85KSM[/youtube]

The bleedin' cheek!
 
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